“Our hearts are broken, and we cannot begin to express how much she meant to us. We will forever cherish the love, laughter, and countless memories she gave us.
“Her beautiful spirit touched so many lives, and she will be deeply missed and forever loved.
“Rest peacefully, sweet Lauren. You will always be in our hearts. Your GRLS, Em, Tash, and P.”
The tribute says a lot without trying to make grief sound neat. Pop groups are often packaged as eras and branding. For the people inside them, they are also long days, rehearsals, friendships and complicated shared history.
What Lauren Bennett was known for in pop music
Bennett first came to wider attention as a member of Paradiso Girls, a girl group formed in the late 2000s. The group disbanded in 2010 after their second single failed to make a major impact on the charts.
She later joined G.R.L., a group launched with a glossy pop sound and a major push. Their early releases included “Vacation,” which appeared on the soundtrack for The Smurfs 2, followed by “Wild Wild Love,” a collaboration with Pitbull.
Their biggest hit was “Ugly Heart,” released in 2013. The song reached the UK Top 5 and became the track most closely associated with the group. More than a decade later, its music video has drawn over 130 million views on YouTube, where fans have been returning to leave messages for Bennett.
Bennett was also heard on several tracks from that pop-dance period, most famously LMFAO’s “Party Rock Anthem,” a song so inescapable at the time that even people who tried to avoid it probably failed.
G.R.L. had already faced tragedy
Bennett’s death comes 12 years after the death of her G.R.L. bandmate Simone Battle, who died by suicide in 2014. The group disbanded months later.
At the time, Bennett spoke to People about the shock of losing Battle so suddenly.
“You can never prepare yourself for something like this, ever,” she said.
“We’d just been in rehearsals the day before, learning choreography for our show, and the next day we were starting the morning as usual when we got the call.”
“I still can’t believe it. I don’t think any of us can. It’s weird that we’re even sitting here, talking about it.”
G.R.L. briefly returned in 2016 with Natasha Slayton and new member Jazzy Mejia, but the lineup disbanded again. The group also had a 2020 reunion and teased new music in 2021, though that material was never released.
Fans remember a voice from a specific pop era
For many listeners, Bennett’s career belongs to a very specific stretch of pop history, when dance-heavy singles, soundtrack placements and high-gloss girl groups filled radio and music video channels.
Her name may not have been the biggest on every track she appeared on, but her voice was part of songs that millions heard repeatedly. That kind of presence can last in unexpected ways. It lingers in playlists, old videos and comment sections, where grief now sits beside nostalgia.
Bennett is remembered by her former bandmates as “sweet Lauren,” and by fans as a performer whose work belonged to a bright, busy chapter of pop. Her death at 37 makes that chapter feel closer, and more fragile, than it did before.
